Arizona Diamondbacks MLB Draft History And Projections

As we approach the 2018 MLB Draft on June 4, we’ll break down each major league team’s recent draft history, picking out tendencies where applicable, highlighting the team’s 2018 draft pool and also touching on the organization’s most successful recent draft picks.

Additionally, each team is listed with potential draft targets. These players either fit the typical modus operandi of the organization or are players who have been specifically linked or rumored as fits with a team throughout the spring. Baseball America will continue to add and subtract players from the potential draft target section as we continue to gather information in the final weeks leading up to the draft. Players are listed with a line of skinny to get a quick idea of who they are, but our full scouting reports will give a more complete picture of a player.

It’s also worth pointing out that while in some cases a team might appear to have a clear tendency with certain demographics (i.e., high school pitchers or college hitters), the sample we are looking at is small enough that teams could simply be following a best player available strategy and the results are showing something that’s not an overarching scouting philosophy. It’s more likely that tendencies can be discovered at the extremes, rather than slight apparent preferences in the last five years.

Here is a breakdown of the recent MLB Draft history of the Arizona Diamondbacks:

First Round Picks Since 2013:

Best Recent Pick (2010-2017 Drafts):

OF Adam Eaton (19th round, 2010) has amassed 16.7 bWAR over a seven-year career prior to the 2018 season, though his best years came in a jersey that didn’t say Diamondbacks after Arizona traded him to the White Sox in December 2013.

Recent Tendencies (Last Five Years/Top Five Rounds):

Since 2015, the first draft with current scouting director Deric Ladnier in charge, the D-backs have gone to the college ranks with their first overall selection, taking Vanderbilt shortstop Dansby Swanson with the first overall pick in 2015, Auburn outfielder Anfernee Grier with pick No. 39 in the supplemental first round of 2016 and most recently Virginia first baseman Pavin Smith with the seventh overall pick in 2017.

Overall, in the first five rounds of the last five years, the Diamondbacks have taken high school players 44.8 percent (12th) of the time and four-year university players 55.2 (13th) percent of the time.

Arizona has been fairly mixed in regards to pitcher versus position player, going with pitchers 48.3 percent of the time and hitters 51.7 percent of the time.